Tendulkar elbows his way into the Indian side

Jagadish was happy that an Indian side would win the Challenger Trophy. Now it increasingly seems that the senior side would be the winners after the selectors decided not to distribute the international regulars across the three teams, as has been the normal practice. It would have been ideal to distribute the players evenly in order to get some good practice. Ganguly, Laxman & Dinesh Mongia would lead the seniors, A & B teams respectively.

The inclusion of Tendulkar in the seniors side after John Gloster had said that he was fit to play was certainly the central topic of the day. Having pulled out of the Super Series, Tendulkar was also delighted at the prospect of playing after 5 long months and he wanted to test out his elbow in this series so that he could take a decision about participating in the ODIs that follow soon rather than sit them out, unlike what happened with Zimbabwe.

The selectors, of course, didn't miss their usual trick by 'resting' Kumble and Nehra for the series. If someone had to be rested, it should have been Pathan. Kumble, despite being more or less a misfit in one-dayers in the last couple of years, should perhaps have been included into the A or B side for him to prove his bowling against a good batting line-up. Harbhajan is increasingly becoming ineffective in one-dayers and Kumble's inclusion in the ranks would have given him a nice kick up the backside.